Simplenote brings its ultra-fast note taking app to Android

When Automattic, creators of WordPress, purchased Simplenote earlier this year, the company promised to overhaul the then-iOS app and bring the service to other platforms.

That promise has now been fulfilled with the release of a Simplenote app for Android. The company has taken the basic idea of quickly sketching down thoughts without any distracting UI elements and created a look in keeping with the Android aesthetic. Users can tag notes and “pin” them to the top of a list, but that’s about it. Filtering is based on tags or key terms within the note, but there are no formatting options or even bulleted lists — just sheer, unadulterated white space.

For that reason, Simplenote may not appeal to everyone, but its cross-platform synchronization backend has proven to be extremely reliable, and Automattic promises to overhaul the iOS app and create an OS X version, too. The company has also released an Android-compatible library of its Simperium synchronization back-end, allowing third-party developers to use the service as well.

At this point, there’s no widget, something that many Android users will clamber for. If that’s a necessary inclusion, web- and Android-only Hashnote may be a better bet, as it provides much of the same functionality.

Simplenote is also tablet-optimized, and promises other updates in the coming weeks.

“ultra-fast”, hm. I really like Evernote, I use it a lot, but adding a new note is not as quick as I’d like it to be.

J-Ro

Some note taking apps really make you work for it. I want to just press “new” or “+” and make a note. Google Keep is good for that. Just has crazy permissions for a note taking app.

Frank Marcelli

Not bad. Todo.txt does the same but with additional sync options (dropbox support) and the ability to run at startup.

Unorthodox

I don’t know why these apps never get it right? There must be a widget that takes one page of the homescreen, so I could just scribble my idea there then swipe up and the note goes to the app storage, leaving the widget empty and ready for taking the next note.

Amparipaa

trust me, this “ultra-fast note taking app” isn’t gonna be so ultra-fast on android, even with an inevitable snapdragon 1000 (64-bit?) running the show, as android is based off java, so code has to be compiled in real time, which is an inherent disadvantage to any android-developed software versus iOS and to an extent WP8 (sadly many program are developed in .NET, another compiled-in-real-time language)